I love my job. Don't get me wrong. But I've been feeling in my heart lately that I want to do more. I'll be at CCDHC (GI Care for Kids) for a loooong time...it's a wonderful work environment and I really do love my patients. Ever since we got married, I've felt a change in my heart. A good change! Not only was there the change of becoming a wife (which is such an incredible blessing)...but, I've felt God calling me to do something BIG for our community.
I've been praying about HOW I can achieve this dream in my heart. I've always had this mentality of ...I wanna SAVE THE WORLD! Hence the nursing career....but I get distracted by the day-to-day demands of my little world. My world/my distractions: Jake, Bailey, our home, our family, our friends, work, errands, 20% off Bed Bath & Beyond Coupons, Facebook, post-wedding stuff, cleaning, cooking, budgeting....the list goes on. Distractions aren't necessarily BAD, but...they do take up time, despite their goodabilty. ; )
The dream: I want to set up a website/forum...where local ATL peeps can MAKE and GRANT wishes. In a time when it may be a little hard to give money to your local charity, wouldn't it be great to sign-in to a website and see what the local area needs are, and be able to contribute, even non-monetarily? Jake and I are very strong believers in tithing and giving to the church, so I'm not insinuating that this is what you should do instead of tithing...but, that's a whole different subject! This is about LOCAL COMMUNITY, and rebuilding the spirit of Atlanta.
Ok....so I know I probably lost you. So....this is how it would work:
Hi, I'm "Jane"...I work for Atlanta Elementary School.....and there is a need for 10 pencils at our school. I'm going to post our "wish" on TheWishNetwork.com (the site I'm trying to get) that my school needs 10 pencils.
Hi, I'm "Steve"...I work for Pencil Makers of America...and I happen to have 10 extra pencils.
I'm going to sign-in to TheWishNetwork.com and reply to "Janes" post. I'm going to grant the school's wish.
That's the basic idea. It's that simple...there are NEEDS in this community and there are people that want to GIVE. The problem is, those that have the need don't know how to make that need known. And, those that want to give, don't know who needs. And in a time when writing a check to The American Cancer Association may be hard on a lot of us...that doesn't mean that we can't fulfill our hearts desire to GIVE.
...........so.............
There's a TON that I have to work out. I've been working on turning this into a non-profit organization but am realizing that it's quite difficult. SO, with that said, this is still a dream....but I'm hoping that I'll meet just the right person, who can help me see this dream turn into something that can really help our community.
There is NO financial obligation in supporting this, which is how this organization would be different. It's people using resources they may happen to have "extra" of... or people that may want to give their time. For example, yard work for an elderly woman.
Let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions. Jake and I will continue to pray about this and how God wants to use us. Until then, I trust that He will continue to wrap his arms around our country as we are all dealing with this economic turmoil.
Live.Laugh.Love.
Don't those three words just make your heart smile??
